LAS VEGAS — Chase Randall used patience, talent and a fast car to maneuver his way to the front and win the Bandits Outlaw Sprint Series feature during night one of the inaugural Las Vegas Dirt Nationals.
Randall’s sprint car triumph was a part of a five-feature docket at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Rodney Sanders (Open Modifieds), Scott Beaudoin (West Coast Sport Compacts), Luke Ramsey (Hobby Stocks) and Dalton Hatten (Dwarf Cars) were also winners.
Randall, the young racer from Waco, Texas, started third and methodically tracked down leader Garet Williamson. With nine laps to go, Randall threw a slide job into Turn 1 to grab the lead. Williamson would re-pass Randall off turn two, but a dive from Randall would seal the deal coming off Turn 4. Randall drove away from challengers Garen Linder, Jeremy McCune, Wes Wofford and Mindy McCune as they filled out the Top 5. Williamson blew a right-rear tire with five laps to go, relegating him to a ninth-place effort.
“It was just tire management,” Randall said. “The track surface was really good. I kinda made sure I was in the good dirt and made sure my right rear lasted until the very end. You gotta know how hard to push it.”
Randall picked up $2,500 for the victory driving his No. 9 sprint car.
Sanders started on pole and led wire-to-wire in the $2,500-to-win feature. Sanders battled briefly with D.J. Shannon, but pulled away before a caution brought the field back together with nine laps remaining. Sanders, in his No. 20 nailed the restart and was gone. Brian Ruhlman, Kollin Hibdon, Lance Mari and Ricky Alvarado put on a show for positions 2 through 5 and finished in that order.
In the $500-to-win Hobby Stock feature, Luke Ramsey launched from his outside-pole starting position, took the lead down the backstretch and never looked back. Ramsey piloted his No. 17 steadily away from second-place John Watson. Ramsey finished 2.445 seconds ahead of Watson in a caution-free race.
Dalton Hatten held off a furious charge from Ridge Abbott to claim the $500-to-win Dwarf Car feature.
Scott Beaudoin won a caution-filled West Coast Sport Compact feature.